The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has granted a pardon to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, founder of Binance, clearing the way for his possible return to the company.
Zhao had pleaded guilty in November 2023 to failing to implement an adequate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program at Binance, violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and stepped down from his executive role. He was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 and released in September.
According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, the pardon was signed on Wednesday, although it has not yet been officially published on the White House website or in the Federal Register. Speculation about the pardon had been circulating for several weeks, mainly after Zhao removed the “ex-@binance” tag from his social media profiles.
As Binance’s largest shareholder, CZ could resume an executive position, an option that had been blocked by his plea agreement. Trump had previously granted pardons to prominent figures in the crypto industry, including the three BitMEX co-founders and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
Source: https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/trump-pardons-convicted-binance-founder-7509bd63
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